62 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



delicate plumes on their heads ; royal ducks and other varieties ; many 

 kinds of pigeons and doves, partridges, parrots, macaws, catalnicas 

 (lories?), parrakeets, and others like song sparrows, and many other 

 species of birds of varied and beautiful coloring and with sweet songs. 

 162. There are many kinds of wild fruit, like the cometures, which 

 resemble black grapes and grow on very tall trees ; almonds, de- 

 scribed in another chapter ; jobos, which grow on tall trees and are 

 like plums ; mercures, which are larger than pears and of the same 

 shape, green and yellow in color and well-flavored ; lanas, which are 

 a fruit the shape of apples, well-flavored and growing on tall trees ; 

 mielgas, a green fruit the size of a walnut, well-flavored and health- 

 ful; mamones, the size of a pigeon's egg or larger, green in color and 

 having a kernel inside which tastes like an acorn, with bittersweet 

 surrounding pulp ; it grows on a tall spreading tree of handsome 

 appearance ; cotoprises, which are a yellow fruit, well-flavored, the 

 size of a lemon; siuti, growing on trees of medium height; cherries 

 like our own ; paujies, a yellow fruit the size of walnuts, with a bitter- 

 sweet flavor ; pitahayas, looking like red pears ; the inner flesh is 

 white and smooth, with some black seeds ; they grow on spiny shrubs ; 

 dates are another fruit of the same sort, growing on spiny plants ; 

 brevas (early figs), of almost the same shape and flavor, are yellow 

 in color and grow on thorny, branchless trees ; guamaches, which are 

 a small fruit like little muscadine pears, well-flavored ; they grow on 

 spreading thorny trees ; caras, a fruit growing on tall, spreading 

 trees, and the size of mazard cherries ; they are well-flavored and 

 are eaten cooked ; guavas of various sorts ; grapes grow on thorny 

 vines, with big bunches ; mataraes grow on palms, putting forth long 

 bunches of red grapes, well-flavored, like mazards ; when eaten, the 

 flesh holds the seed inside it, the latter tasting like a hazelnut ; 

 chivechives, which grow in large bunches on shrubs with thorny 

 stalks, like thistles ; they are smooth and well-flavored ; pinuelas are 

 the size of a long finger, with a smooth skin and white flesh, a deli- 

 cate and healthful fruit ; they grow on thorny shrubs like thistles ; 

 ma3-as, another fruit growing on thorny shrubs like thistles, which 

 put forth very large bunches ; the fruit is the size of large muscadine 

 pears ; pineapples, achiote, wild pineapples ( ? pitas), and many other 

 varieties of fruit, impossible to catalog. And since the land is so fertile 

 and productive and with strong indications of gold ore and other valu- 

 able commodities, and well peopled by the various tribes living there, 

 Capt. Diego de Henares Lezama and his sons, Capt. Juan de Lezama 

 and Antonio de Lezama, in the year 1598, in their desire to serve 

 God and His Majesty and to exalt our Holy Faith, left the city of 



